Rudy, Edwards bag big bucks

Republican presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani reported a whopping $16.1 million in earned income over the past 16 months, most of it in speaking fees, according to financial documents filed Wednesday.

Democratic hopeful John Edwards reported earned income of $1.25 million, the biggest single source of which was a hedge fund that employed him part time. He and his wife, Elizabeth, reported $29.5 million in assets, including millions invested in the hedge fund â€” the Fortress Investment Group.

Giuliani's report provides the first detailed picture of his vast holdings and income since his term as mayor of New York ended more than five years ago. Since then, Giuliani parlayed his image as an in-charge mayor during the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks into lucrative speaking fees and business enterprises.

He reported $13 million to $45 million in assets, including his share in Giuliani & Co., a partnership that provides an array of consulting services. He also listed income from dividends and interest on many of those investments of at least $411,332 and as much as $3.3 million.

The reports were part of a flurry released Wednesday by the Federal Election Commission. The deadline for filing was Tuesday, though several candidates received 45-day extensions, including Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton and Republicans Mitt Romney, John McCain and Tommy Thompson. Republican Jim Gilmore asked for and received a 30-day grace period.

Sen. Barack Obama's report showed a surge of interest in his writings as he drew closer to a presidential bid, earning more than a half-million dollars in 2006 in royalties for one book and an advance for another.

The Illinois Democrat received $572,490 for the books â€” his best-selling memoir, "Dreams of My Father" and "The Audacity of Hope," an account of his political journey.

Giuliani's biggest single source of income between January 2006 and February 2007 came from speaking engagements around the world. He grossed $11.4 million in speeches, which includes fees retained by the Washington Speakers Bureau. He typically charged $100,000 per speaking engagement and as much as $200,000 on occasion.

After speaking at an event in Louisiana for the PGA Tour, Giuliani donated $80,000 to New Orleans charities working on the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

Giuliani reported income of $4.1 million from Giuliani & Co., and $1.2 million from Bracewell & Giuliani, a law firm that also provides lobbying services for its clients. Giuliani also received $146,092 in royalties for "Leadership," a book about his experiences during and after the terrorist attack on New York.

His assets include a personal loan of $250,000 to $500,000 to Kenneth Caruso, a senior lawyer at Bracewell & Giuliani, and a decades-long aide to Giuliani.

The disclosure forms do not provide a precise accounting of the candidates' assets and investment income, requiring only that filers list those amounts in ranges. However, the Edwards campaign supplemented its reports with more detail, including the value of the couple's total assets.

Edwards, who has made fighting poverty a signature element of his campaign, said his work for a fund that generally caters to the wealthiest of investors was designed to educate him about the way financial markets operate. Fortress paid Edwards $479,512 for his consulting services.

The candidate and his wife had $1 million to $5 million in the Fortress Investment Fund III, a Fortress subsidiary that invests in businesses in the United States and Western Europe. He had lesser amounts in other investment funds.

Edwards received about $395,000 in paid speeches â€” most of them at colleges â€” and was paid $40,000 salary for work at the University of North Carolina Center on Poverty, Work and Opportunity.

The Edwards family donated more than $350,000 to charity, including the International Rescue Committee and Habitat for Humanity.

Edwards' largest holding was a conservative investment: $5 million to $25 million in a money market fund, Columbia Cash Reserves.

Edwards also received $333,334 in royalties for his book "Home: The Blueprints of Our Lives." The money was donated to charity.

The former North Carolina senator owned several properties in his home state, including buildings in Raleigh worth $500,000 to $1 million each. He also owned land in Raleigh valued at $50,001 to $1 million.

Edwards listed only two liabilities: a variable line of credit from Bank of America of $500,001 to $1 million and a mortgage on one of his Raleigh buildings, worth $15,001 to $50,000.

Obama and his wife, Michelle, reported assets ranging from $457,000 to $1.14 million â€” far more modest than most of the other leading presidential candidates.

The Obama campaign announced Wednesday that the couple this year transferred about $180,000 in assets they held in the Vanguard Wellington Fund to Vanguard FTSE Social Index Fund after discovering that a small amount of the Vanguard Wellington Fund is invested in an oil field services company active in Sudan.

Republican presidential candidate Sam Brownback, an outspoken critic of the violence in Sudan, also divested his stock portfolio of companies that do business with the African nation.

The Kansas senator listed sales of nearly two dozen investments, several of which were mutual funds whose holdings include companies active in Sudan, according to a financial disclosure report he filed Tuesday. Among them was a mutual fund in the name of Brownback's wife, Mary, valued at between $50,000 and $100,000. Other Sudan-related investments were in the names of the couples' children.

New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, a Democratic presidential candidate who has called for a dramatic reduction in the use of fossil fuels, reported holding $250,000 to $500,000 in stock options from Valero Energy Corp. for serving on the company's board of directors from March 2001 to June 2002. Richardson also held $100,000 to $250,000 in Valero common stock.

In his report, Richardson, who was energy secretary in the Clinton administration, said he intends to divest himself of the Valero stock if he is elected president.

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